


Vie

by ParanoidAndroid (HomesickAlien)



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: "sexy" dragon dancer mamoru, Cray AU, M/M, much less sexy 0kumi idiot trio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-10 22:45:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19518007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomesickAlien/pseuds/ParanoidAndroid
Summary: He understands the hearts of dragon's entirely too well, but this one is a foreign existence that should not exist at all. An envoy of another world, the remnants of the invaders from space, they call themLink Joker,but to Mamoru, he's just another friend of Planet Cray. And he, who would give anything to see his people smile, dances endlessly to understand the hearts of those who shelter themselves from all their sins.The child of the great Messiah, is like a God unto himself, in the warm arms of this dragon partner.





	Vie

**Author's Note:**

> it is a commission for a friend. That is, "ibumamo cray au with alien ibuki falling in love with kagero dragon dancer mamoru" .... I wanted to write it, too. At first I visualized Mamoru as a dragon in Cray AU and I still have many drafts of that, but the ED for Stride Gate had me come up with Dragon Dancer Mamoru. Since it was like that, i changed Ibukki for this one, too, although I do have a draft with the giant tentacle abomination Ibukki too Ill probably dump in my Garbage Dump someday haha... Since it's for Alissa I made it cute.
> 
> Although, I am selfish, so there is a little Mamokai and Kaiai too www...... Please enjoy it.

A large dragon shuffles around uncomfortable in his chair, trying and failing to find a comfortable position to relax in. The dragon is never comfortable in times he isn’t fighting on the battlefield—  _ like father, like son,  _ everyone always tells him. But he always denies it, he’s nothing like his father, not yet, anyway. Not yet.

“Ibuki, come play with me.”

The dragon leans his head back against the arm rest, and behind the giant dragon’s chair rests a small human-like creature. Only like, and not truly humanoid at all, an alien creature from the wandering planet, now just another child of Messiah. Although, at times it would seem he is the same as a human from the Empire, he’s here so often at Kai’s will; the three of them, Kai, Miwa, and Ibuki are always together now. Kai feels more at ease with them than any members of his troops, they’re friends he can earnestly rely on.

Ibuki gives Kai a passing glance, and like a cat before returning to his nap, his head resting in his curled up arms. Kai frowns at him before being thwacked on the head by small human hands.

“Normally Kai’s the one who spends all day napping,” A young dragon knight of the Empire, Miwa, speaks up; “Look how much you’ve rubbed off on him. You’re a bad influence, Kai.”

“I’ve done nothing of the sort.”

Kai leans his head back further, and Miwa takes to petting his exposed neck, the endearing offcolor scales that brighten Kai’s frightening image. They’re a little softer, thinner, than the protective scales surrounding the rest of his body. Kai would probably bite anyone else that would dare to act so friendly with him, but alone with them he’s a totally different person. 

Kai can serve to fight all his own if he pleases, but he also doubles as Miwa’s dragon partner on the battlefield when they’re together. The bond they’ve formed, even as distant as Kai is, has become inseparable, and Kai would do anything to protect Miwa. Because they’ve been together since childhood, that even when Kai had been impossible to speak to, distant and frustrated by this world he’s been dropped into, Miwa has always been a kindness in his life. A bright, shining light like the sun, his world would be so dark without such a friend.

And, if Miwa is like the sun, Ibuki is the moon. Dark, and cold, and quiet, and waning. Kai likes to observe him, watch him in silence to see him find his peace on this planet Cray. Just as Kai has…

“Aren’t you just brooding because Aichi’s not around.”

Kai opens his eyes suddenly with a scowl, twisting his head to gnaw at Miwa’s selfish hand. He laughs it off, Kai doesn’t bite down hard enough to do any harm, but when he doesn’t let go he does start to struggle a little to be released from his grip. Pushing against Kai’s snout with his free hand, jokingly speaking his concerns.

Although he doesn’t like to admit it, Kai pines for Aichi a great deal. To the point where, when Aichi had said he’d be going on a mission far away from here, Kai had begged him to go with, and Aichi had to remind Kai they’re still from different Nations, with very different responsibilities. Kai is still troubled by this, waiting for his lover to come home, he’s terribly lonely even at the side of his two dearest friends. It’s like throwing darts blindly trying to find something that might distract the dragon’s brain.

“That’s not the case at all.” Kai speaks through his teeth, “Not at all, I’m fine without him.”

It’s an obvious lie, so obvious that Miwa pats his face with sympathy. Kai is a terrible liar, so everyone in the Empire can tell when Kai is in distress. He’d refused to fight when the Empire had started another war in Blaster Blade and Aichi’s absence.  _ Because there’s no one worth fighting _ , he’d said, but everyone knows what that really means is  _ there’s only one person I’m willing to fight a war with. _

Like father, like son, they’re indistinguishable at times. 

Kai hears the sound of footsteps coming towards them, and he releases Miwa’s hand from his mighty grip.  _ Finally,  _ Miwa sighs with relief, rubbing his arm like he’d been severely injured, although Kai’s teeth hadn’t even pierced his skin. 

An older man wanders into the cavern, although  _ older _ is a subjective term here, in the presence of an immortal dragon it’s easy to feel like one’s age is irrelevant. But he’s older than the only other human in this room, only by a few years, so Kai, who couldn’t understand either way, tends to consider him as old. It’s much to the man’s contemptment, he hates being reminded of it, he’s really not old for a human at all, but he feels like he’s getting beyond his years. Like there’s nothing he can do at all, now.

Although, he’s a hardworker, one who works so hard that he never has time to think about the details. 

The man smiles brightly as he enters, bowing down to greet Kai, although Kai is often one to tell him to do away with the formalities, he accepts it just this once. “Mamoru.” He says, realizing he’s still has his head laying upside down he scrambles to sit up properly, he’s a terrible general to be faced with his colleagues, but given most of his army is filled with people he considers family, this is rarely an issue at all. He’s still their child, as it were, the child of Kagero no matter how old he gets.

“You look like your bored.” Mamoru says with a lighthearted grin, “I came to recruit you at the Emperor’s request, but as expected, I’m sure you’ll deny us.”

“I don’t want to fight another worthless war.” Kai grumbles as though there were nothing worse in this world. And in truth, he is tired of it, although perhaps there is some influence from his dearest Aichi at work. He’ll never admit it, but he’d be grateful if there were never another war between their nations,  _ because then Aichi and I could live happily. _

That said, there’s no one he enjoys sparring with more, either. But if it comes to a war where he’d have to kill the human boy of the Sanctuary, he’s not sure what he would do. His father is the opposite of him, he would cut down any number of generals and then some, just to have his sword pointed at the famed Swordsman of Light’s neck. Kai is a surprisingly pacifistic blood knight.

“Why don’t you show us your dance, instead.” Miwa chimes in with a smile, leaning against Kai’s chair. “You have to motivate brooding dragons out on the battlefield, like this one.”

“I said I wouldn’t go.”

“I still have a long way to go…”

Kai had met Mamoru two years ago, under the guidance of their most famed dragon dancer, and the one Kai is most endeared to. Kai is rarely invested in the affairs of the dancers, most of whom are women, but Mamoru is one he thinks fondly of, even if he’s no where near as talented as his big sister Monica. He is hard working, and he’s one of the only dancers who can keep up with Kai in combat, so he dances at Kai’s side on the battlefield. 

The bells around his wrist jingle as he steps through the vast space between him and Kai, it’s so empty here in this cavern Kai often secludes himself, too. Kai doesn’t like troublesome things, he’d like his home to be as small and free of clutter as possible, but as he still had difficulties when it comes to controlling the scale of his transformations into a dragon, he has made sure to settle in the largest place he could find. It’s close to the heart of the Empire, but distant enough that it’s quiet and easy to hide from prying eyes. That is, it’s a good place to rendezvous in secret.

That includes a place to harbor alien lifeforms from another world, but that is besides the point. Ibuki is unbothered by the sudden intrusion, but his ears twitch at every chime of Mamoru’s bells, the sound of his feet digging into the gravel, the clap of his hands coming together. He doesn’t have the words to describe such sensations, so pleasant to hear, a dance without sound. Without music, his body becomes the sound that will tune the world.

Kai watches him earnestly, his face held up by his fist leaning in his chair. It’s hard for Mamoru to still his heart, his hand shakes with nerves as he entertains the two of them. Miwa is an easy person to please, cheering him on as a fellow human amongst the weight of dragon’s hearts, but it’s impossible to tell, when Kai is happy or not. Outside of the battlefield, he’s always so stern, neither upset nor mad but simply disheartened. He has a natural scowl that scares people away, but Mamoru is infatuated by him, that in his heart he wishes to become a partner of this mighty dragon, alone. 

Their life span is so short, he’s certain there’s nothing a human like him could do to draw the eyes of a dragon to him; so he dances. Dances, until that day comes, that he can hear the dragon’s heart speak.

“Kai, are you sad?”

Mamoru speaks lightly as he holds his pose. He looks at him through the corner of his eyes, with a frown that’s rare of his image. He’s the type to never show his agony, taking care of everyone in their endless Empire, watching over the children and their adults alike. He takes on so much, but Kai has only seen such a troubled face when he’s fretting over others, never for himself. 

“Do I seem so?”

“No.” Mamoru says, twirling in the empty air solemnly. “Monica is the one who had said as much. That’s why she said I should come here instead of one of the knights. I didn’t understand at the time, but…”

Mamoru approaches him slowly, with such precise steps he dances towards Kai’s magnificence. He’s grown to reach even the heights of his father, a tall and mighty dragon untouchable by human hands. That Mamoru has to jump onto the chair to meet him, he sits in Kai’s lap kindly, running his hands under his chin, his neck, down his chest.

“Are you lonely,” Mamoru says, his soft, gentle, warm smile returning as he embraces the warmth of Kai’s scales. “I think, when the war is over, the dragons should relent to us humans who swear our souls off to them.”

Kai scoffs at him, but he doesn’t deny this embrace between them, letting Mamoru do as he pleases with Kai’s body. It’s difficult, a small human grinding his hips against the thick flesh of the dragon’s crotch. It’s not enough to pleasure him at all, this existence is too insignificant, like a fly dancing in his face, yet Kai relents nonetheless, playing along with him. He leans his head back as Mamoru lets his hands wander to the dragon’s thighs, the flames of his arousal whispering off his lips, making sounds of his pleasure as this human gives his best for him. Miwa wonders when exactly he became a thirdwheel here, coughing awkwardly until Mamoru startles at the fact that  _ they’re not alone, here. _

His face is entirely too red.

“You want to dance, don’t you.”

Kai takes Mamoru into his hand, rising from his chair and dizzying himself in the empty space that engulfs him whole until he nears the exit, and sets mamoru down on the ground. He bends over to retain height between them, letting Mamoru hold him by a single claw of his hand, dancing in tune with his gargantuas partner. Kai let’s this little human take the lead, pulling him along, he spins in place balanced by Kai’s hold.

“Kai, it’s too awkward.”

Mamoru speaks with a strain in his voice, not quite annoyed but more concerned than anything else. This general of Kagero is so troublesome, so selfish, always going off on his own without explaining what it is he wants. He’s terrible with using his words, the others are right to call him a child. Even when he has such a brooding face, he’s always like this at heart.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be dancing.”

“A dance for one is a lonely dance, after all.”

Kai lifts Mamoru up in his arms, two hands beneath the little humans pits, enough to engulf his whole body as Kai swings him high up into the air. As high as one can reach, he could probably touch the ceiling if he stretched his arm out enough. Being up in this place, it brings him peace, this is the place he can dance freely with his partners. This is the only place, where a human can become one with a dragon.

“Kai…”

Mamoru runs his hands over Kai’s, dangling haplessly in the empty sky until Kai brings him closer to his face, a dirty grin painting his face.

“ _ The dragons should relent to us humans, _ ” Kai says, and Mamoru can feel the heat of those flames that well in the dragon’s chest ready to burst from their prison. “Selfish words from a selfish human. How should I punish you.”

Miwa laughs at him, giving out his own unwarranted input for free;  _ Wasn’t dancing with him enough of a punishment.  _ Miwa has been Kai’s friend so long, that scary face of his doesn’t bother him at all. Although, in truth, none of the Kagero feel any fear from this dragon, everyone knows Kai isn’t nearly as vicious as that scary face of his implies, but Mamoru is still breathless in his presence. It takes all his will to stay composed, he swallows the lump in his throat as Kai pulls him closer to his face, his sharp teeth piercing into his very soul.

“I’ll eat you.”

“Then, I will become a feast for you.”

There is a long moment of silence between them. Long enough for Mamoru to feel he’s misstepped, to second guess his dance for this impossible dragon general. A bead of sweat building and slipping from his forehead, Kai smiles and licks his face before releasing this human back unto the ground. “You were right,” Kai says, “I feel entirely too much vigor now, I’ll kindly kill all of them, those humans of the Sanctuary. Until the one I seek comes back to me…”

Kai steps away from mamoru, pinching Miwa by the neck of his shirt, it’s his turn to be raised up into the sky by the mighty dragon warrior. He acts offended by it, fumbling in the sky and saying, “At least give me some kind of warning!” With a smile as he always gives to his friend. Kai sets Miwa on his shoulder, with no where better to put him, “Come, follow me,” He says to Mamoru as he walks further back past his chair, to the farthest reaches of this cavern, where Ibuki has been resting.

Kai bends down on his knees to meet him.

“I’m going away for a little while.” Kai says, and as he speaks he speaks, too, with his hands. This one before him is incapable of speech, his alien anatomy giving no method for communication beyond this. “I’m leaving you a friend so you won’t get lonely while I’m gone.”

Mamoru catches up to Kai in this place, his little human feet that walk far slower than a dragon’s do. He’s taken away by it, he hadn’t even noticed this creature in the room. He’s a beautiful existence, almost, not-quite humanoid in form. He recognizes the alien for of this creature immediately, as would anyone here;  _ Link Joker.  _ The invaders of another world. It’s almost terrifying, but he doesn’t let it stop his heart from skipping.

They are the least likely to fear such an existence, given their general had also fallen from the palms of those invaders, and his father, too, had taken that power relentlessly without any consideration at all. The Kagero fear nothing for power, they will give anything to surpass themselves. Although, Kai isn’t harboring this one for the sake of power, but something far more sentimental than that.

“His name is Ibuki.”

Kai says, and his voice is more than enough to startle Mamoru from his awe. Miwa snickers at him, it’s easy to be impressed by something unknown as this. But the three of them can’t feel any sort of discretion for things like shock or horror for eachother. They’re something akin to childhood friends, even as they had met in different points of their lives, they always end up coming back to one another. They’re inseparable in their distance, and it was their will that had brought this one back to them. Their prayers to protect this one who had never meant to bring harm to Cray, had Ibuki reborn as an envoy of Link Joker, and the most beloved child of Messiah.

Messiah’s very own, vanguard. 

“Stay here with him,” Kai says as he turns to walk away. “He won’t admit it, but he gets really lonely when he’s by himself. That’s why we had taken him in in the first place.”

Mamoru has no room to protest. By the time he had realized what he’d been tasked with, Kai is already out the door, flying off to wherever their battle has moved on to, leaving Mamoru alone with his strange existence.

He doesn’t know what he should do, try talking to him, or interacting with him or what else. He watches him for a while, until it becomes boring watching such a dormant creature and he decides instead to do the only thing he feels confidence in doing.

Dancing.

He practices his steps with extreme precision, the ones he knows he had fumbled on when he were dancing for Kai. It’s embarrassing to reflect on, his mistakes for the one he’s like most to impress, but he takes it in earnest. Doing his best to assure such a failure will never come again, least of all on the battlefield. He’s so obsessed with his work, that he doesn’t even hear it, the bare steps of another approaching him. He doesn’t notice at all, until two hands are raising him up in the air.

“H-hey, what are you…?”

Mamoru looks down at the alien before him. He doesn’t respond at all, tilting his head with confusion that Mamoru would even ask what he’s doing. Ibuki doesn’t quite understand humans, and he has an incredibly small sample size to base how a human should act on. Raised with the other remnants of Link Joker and their Messiah, he hasn’t a need for such formalities. He hadn’t even had a name to go by back then, it were his two friends that had given him something convenient to go by.

He glares at Mamoru for some time, before following the memory of his steps before him. Ibuki twirls Mamoru around in his arms, bringing him close enough to feel his breath over his cheeks. It’s warm and gentle and so human.  _ So human.  _ Just as Messiah loves the entities of Cray so dearly, Ibuki, too, can’t help himself from feeling some odd sort of sentiment he can’t explain for them in his heart. But it’s different, than towards Miwa, or the other human’s Kai calls his family. He doesn’t have a word for it, now, but he has his actions to show for it. 

I want to understand you.

Kai had left him this human as a treat, and he gnaws at it. Takes it as a special gift of life just for him, a moment to learn why it is Kai cares so dearly for them. Why it is, that these Cray inhabitants are so special, so beautiful, so precious, that they will defend this land of theirs eternally, even when they are all so selfish.

“I’ll take the lead.”

Mamoru says, and he doesn’t know why he says something so forward, but he does. And he doesn’t even wait, for Ibuki to nod his head, before taking Ibuki in his arms and guiding him around this empty stage for two. He can feel Ibuki’s heart beat against his own, feel the pulse of his blood in the palm he holds, his sharp claws digging into Mamoru’s own flesh. He doesn’t mind the sensation one bit, with every step he feels all the more alive with him. Ibuki is a beautiful existence, with a soft face despite his incessant glare, and long, elegant hair that twirls with their bodies through the air as Mamoru guides his pirouette. 

He wonders why it is, he can only speak his honest feelings like this. He had asked Monica once, why she loves to dance so much, asking entirely for his own sake. And her answer had been so simple, that he had understood completely.  _ Because I can speak without words, to they who speak no words at all.  _ He had taken this step forward to communicate with the dragons, but maybe it’s even more intimate than that.  _ I can speak to everyone, like this.  _ Even an alien envoy of Link Joker. Even God.

When he dances with Ibuki, it’s just like singing for God. He feels so weak, so futile in his existence, to be sharing these feelings with someone far above himself, it’s such an insult, but Ibuki takes away those selfless doubts with ease, bringing Mamoru’s face so close to his and running his tongue over his cheek.

“What’s that for?!”

Mamoru steps away, rubbing his face in embarrassment, but Ibuki looks at him as sinless as a confused child, when Ibuki realizes he’s just enacting what he’s seen. He isn’t coming up with his own dance, he isn’t speaking his own words.

“I want to hear them,” Mamoru says boldly, approaching Ibuki once more. “You’re honest voice.”

_ Show me a dance, a dance I’ve never seen before. _

He holds out his hand to Ibuki, asking Ibuki to guide him to the world of these reborn Link Joker. To show him his voice, his lonely voice, his terrified voice, his passionate voice. He dances with such anguish, it’s painful for Mamoru to follow him, the scales of his dress jangling together, his fake tail slithering through the air, he starts to sing his own song for them. The song of Ibuki’s long nails digging into the rocky gravel, of his tentacles wrapping around Mamoru’s wrist and conducting his body as a puppet on strings. The sound of his attire clapping with the empty wind, of their breathing becoming one in tune, their heart beats beating like a warm summer drum. 

Mamoru understands it, just for a moment, the peace of these aliens that had no where else to call home. And he wants to become like a home for this one, a family that can bring him peace here, a…

“Ibuki…”

The words were more difficult to get out than he had anticipated. His throat feels agonizingly dry, and strained, like he were being strangled by him when nothing were restraining him at all. Ibuki holds him tighter, tentacles hardening their grip over his wrist as to acknowledge him, but it’s a long time before Mamoru can get out his next words to him. In truth, he just wants to keep dancing, to keep ignoring the world around them and speaking his will with his body, but…

Some things really should be confessed properly.

“I’m having fun. Do you like it, too?”

Ibuki nods his head slowly, though not with any uncertainty to say the least. Even though they’ve only just met, Ibuki feels rather comfortable with his human as one he could connect with earnestly. He wants to connect with him, to feel the warmth of humans no one else could give him. Someone who is not a friend, or a colleague, but a stranger he can project everything onto. A stranger who can stand at his side as an equal, who they alone can connect with, can understand eachother as foreign existences. 

He likes him, that’s what he wants to say, but…

“I want to keep dancing with you, too.”

Mamoru smiles at him, running his hair through Ibuki’s hair, holding his head in his hand he realizes his opportunity to sing a song all his own is in his grasp. To show Ibuki his dance that is his alone, and no one else’s…

He licks Ibuki’s face, and presses a kiss to the edge of his lips.

“I’m sorry.” He says, wrapping his arms around Ibuki, holding him close to his heart. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

He laughs, pulling away he shows Ibuki his earnest smile. The smile he shows the children of the Empire. The smile he shows his hardworking partners of Kagero. The smile he shows his happy family back home. And now, the unique, passionate smile he shows to this envoy of Messiah, a creature he could pour his entire heart into.

“Let’s keep dancing,” He speaks so brightly, the sun in his eyes. “Until the dawn of night comes to bring us rest.”

“I’m home.”

Kai’s voice booms throughout the empty cavern, but the room is dead silent in return. He wonders where the two he’d left might have run off to, but that curiosity is quickly satiated when he nearly steps on the two sleeping soundly on the rocky floor far back in the cavern.

Ibuki’s long arms are wrapped around Mamoru, holding him tightly to his chest. His hair is a mess before the floor, tangling into Mamoru’s own, and in a sense it were like the two really had become one with one another. Like the blood that flows between them were connected. Kai can’t help but smile, learning down before the two of them. 

_ Did you have fun, Ibuki? _

Kai voice is soft as a parent’s, running his hand through Ibuki’s endless mess of hair. It’s been a long time, since he’d seen such a precious face on Ibuki’s own. Although, it’s not really a smile after all, it’s a face unique to Ibuki. Content, peaceful, warm; he wants to carry them away to somewhere more comfortable but it’s impossible to break up such a pleasant scene between two lovers.

So, he shares that warmth, instead. The warmth of a great and mighty flame dragon, for such a cold existence. Curled up between the two of them, he says his wishes for their pleasant dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> comment please!! I love the comments, I will devour them all kindly!! <3


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